Another Kind Of Power
by fairblue
Summary: Set after the movie. Caleb/OC, Pogue/OC, Reid/OC, Tyler/OC.


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with The Covenant. I do, however, own all my own OC's. Song credit to Evanescence**

* * *

_I'm frightened by what I see_

_But somehow I know that there's much more to come_

_Immobilized by my fear_

_And soon to be blinded by tears_

_I can stop the pain, if I will it all away_

_If I will it all away_

**Whisper**

* * *

**C****HAPTER ****O****NE**

Grace tapped her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently, scanning the crowd outside the airport for Ather. A flash of vibrant hair caught her attention and she revved the engine of the rental car. "Come on, Ather, let's go already!" she shouted out the open passenger window, her Australian accent thick and instantly noticeable. Heads turned.

"I'm coming, gosh," Ather grumbled with an identical accent, dragging a suitcase the size of a large dog. Her breath puffed out of her in small white clouds that quickly disappeared into the frigid winter air. "I would have been here five minutes ago if you didn't have to bring so much stuff." She glanced around and her eyes widened. "Holy shit, real snow."

Grace rolled her eyes as Ather struggled to stuff the suitcase into the backseat, knowing that she had experienced the same reaction. "You know you're going to end up borrowing most of it before the holidays are over. Now hurry up! Kate is waiting!" She grinned upon hearing Ather's muffled curses.

"All right, I'm done!" Ather crowed, leaping back, and slammed the back door. It rebounded off the side of the suitcase and flew open again, narrowly missing Ather as it flashed by. Ather jumped back in surprise, tripped over a loose shoelace, slipped on the icy pavement and landed hard on her backside. She gaped up at the door in shock.

Grace burst into laughter, hunched over the steering wheel. "You should have seen your face --"

"Shut up," Ather snapped, cheeks flushed red from both the sudden cold and her embarrassment. She scrambled to her feet and threw herself at the offending suitcase, managing to shift it the final inch into the car so the door would close properly.

"Aww, your face is the same colour as your hair," Grace teased as Ather slipped in beside her.

"At least mine is interesting to look at, unlike yours," she shot back, grinning. "Quick, turn the heat up. This cold is horrible."

To say Ather's hair was red was an understatement. Though born with natural red hair, now at seventeen it contained every red shade imaginable -- ruby, scarlet, auburn, burgundy, vermillion and crimson, even fuchsia and the odd strand of pink -- Ather's hair was a riot of colour. In comparison, Grace's hair was a smooth black mass rolling down her back that sometimes flashed hints of red undertones in the sun.

"That is true," Grace agreed as she changed the thermostat, "but mine is always neat, unlike yours."

Ather grinned, knowing it was true. "Whatever you say, darling. Now, drive! Kate awaits! Ooh, wait, hang on a second," Ather said seriously. "Now, you remember that Americans drive on the opposite side of the road, right? And their speed limits are in miles per hour, not kilometres per hour? And did you ask the rental car guy to put those snow tyres or snow chains or whatever on?"

"Yes, yes," Grace said dryly. Not needing any further encouragement than that, Grace peeled out of the airport and headed for Ipswich, Massachusetts, where Grace's cousin Kate attended Spenser, a Gothic boarding school. The girls hadn't seen each other for five years. Now that she and Ather had finished high school -- the school year began in January and ended in November in Australia -- Grace had decided to drop in for a surprise visit over Christmas while Kate began her senior year. "Woo!" she cried out the window, grinning madly. "We're here! We're really here! We're in the United States of_ America_! We're in _Boston_! Ather, can you believe it?!"

"It'd be way better if there was no snow, but heck yes! I'm so excited!" Ather said enthusiastically, then promptly connected her iPod to the stereo. "This calls for some mood music." Killswitch Engage blasted out the speakers.

Grace glared. "No, Ather, no!" she shouted over the noise. "You know I don't like this stuff!"

"I can't hear you, the music's too loud," Ather cried back with a smirk.

Grace swiftly pulled the cord out of the stereo, effectively silencing what she defined as mindless racket. "I'm driving, my rules. Something happier, or I'm pulling over and you can walk."

"Did you really just threaten to pull over? That is so like your mum."

"Ather," she growled.

"And you wouldn't. It's _snowing_," she said in horror, thinking fondly of the near-fatal Australian heat they had left behind.

Grace gave her the famous Walker death glare.

"Okay, okay, I give in," Ather relented. This time, Boys Like Girls pounded out of the stereo. "Better?" she asked sarcastically. She groaned. "They're singing about summer, and it's the middle of a bloody Boston winter. That's just cruel."

Grace just beamed. "Any word from Summer or Becca?"

"After I figured out how to use the airport phone -- you should have _seen_ the airport guy I asked for help, so hot -- I found out they're about to board the next available flight." Ather shook her head. "Fate screwed up, I tell you. Summer should be Becca's twin, not mine. And I should be yours, not Becca. How else could they both miss the same flight?"

Laughing, Grace ruffled Ather's hair playfully. "Maybe." She ducked Ather's retaliatory swipe. "Since we're talking fate, and how we should have been twins instead of with our respective twins, we should have been joined with Kate as triplets."

Ather agreed, her hair flying as she nodded vehemently. "But we'd have to buy her contacts, so she could have green eyes like us."

All four Australian girls possessed identical sets of bright green eyes, which they found fascinating, as both sets of twins had traced back their ancestry back two hundred years and found no family connections between the Evans and the Walkers.

"Oh, that reminds me," Ather said, "I bought us American phones. Telstra doesn't exist in the U.S., apparently."

"I thought they were supposed to have cover everywhere now?"

"Dude. Satellite phones. We're not that rich." Sighing, Ather leant back in her seat, propped her feet up on the dashboard and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know, I'm really happy to be seeing Kate and to be in America and all, but it's bloody freezing."

"I was about to say that," Grace admitted, tapping her fingers to the beat. "Maybe Ipswich will be warmer than Boston?" she wondered aloud hopefully.

"Don't bet on it. I looked up Ipswich before we left. Rain, clouds, mist and fog, all round. And during winter it's got snow for months."

"Great," Grace muttered. "Just great."

"The temperatures are done in Fahrenheit here, not Celsius, by the way. I think 1°C is the equivalent of 34°F. Or maybe it's 1°F is equal to 34°C…"

"We're screwed."

"Dude, it even snows in _California_ in winter. We're higher up than Cali."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes, it does. In the mountains."

"God," Grace groaned, "we're so screwed."

"There is a silver lining in all this, don't forget. A white Christmas?"

Ather ducked Grace's swing.

There was an untrue belief in most of the world that Australia didn't have snow. It did, only very, very far south, in the south-east corner of the desert country, in the state of Victoria and parts of New South Wales. Summer, Ather, Becca and Grace had visited the snow the previous year during their Australian winter, in July. They had cancelled the trip after the first week, worn out from being terrified of leaving the cabin for fear of pneumonia and frostbite.

They were also impossibly bored of watching _Friends_ and _M.A.S.H._ reruns and playing different versions of Monopoly and Scrabble.

"They better have some hot werewolf action, or we're going to die," Ather declared.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Wrong side of the country for that, Ather."

"I know that," Ather said dryly. "We're in western America, and Forks is in the east."

Grace averted her eyes to the sky. "Save me," she pleaded.

* * *

The sun was setting as the car finally entered the outskirts of Ipswich. Though Google Maps had said the car trip should take near an hour, the snowy conditions, added to Grace's inexperience on U.S. roads, had doubled their travelling time. Grace yawned, jet lag setting in. "Ather." She poked her shoulder wearily. "Wake up."

Jet lag had taken Ather hostage and kidnapped her to a lost land, from the extreme lack of events of the past two hours. Ather made an incomprehensible sound and shifted a leg lazily. She was -- and had been for the past two hours -- slumped in the corner of the door and the seat, her head at an awkward angle pressed down on her chest. Her legs were sprawled widely, one still on the dash, and the other leaving against the gearstick.

Grace rubbed her eyes, and glanced at Ather. She quickly fired off, "Ather Evans, Ather Evans, Ather Evans, Ather Evans, Ather Evans, Ath --"

"I'm awake! Jesus," Ather grumbled hoarsely, sitting up properly. "Personally, I don't see how my name sounds, and I quote, 'awesome.'"

"Say it aloud," Grace explained with a smile, then repeated, "Ather Evans. It just sounds… so cool."

Ather gave her a look, touched with fatigue. "Whatever, Grace Walker. If anyone has a weird name, you do," she teased, and glanced at her watch, which she had left on Australian time, whereas Grace had switched hers over to the local time. "Dude, it's eight in the morning in Australia. We've just stayed up all night."

"No, it's five in the afternoon. We… skipped a night… backwards. We went backwards in time and have to live the night again, is what I'm saying."

"It's too early in the morning, don't bother." Ather ran a hand through her hair and looked out the window. "Where are we?"

"We're coming into Ipswich now."

She wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?"

Grace could smell it too. "Ather, don't --"

Ather opened her window, and the strong odour wafted into the car, followed by a blast of icy cold. "Is that smoke?"

"Yes, Ather," Grace said dryly. "Now we have smoke inside the car, and it's freezing."

"Argh, damn it. Now we have smoke inside the car, and it's freezing."

"I just said --" Grace exhaled. She knew they were both overtired. All she had to do was stay awake so she could navigate the unknown streets to Spenser Academy.

As they drove closer, the smell intensified. "Do you think -- Grace, it's the school!"

They had rounded a last corner as Ather had spoken, revealing one of Spenser's dorms engulfed in flames. Hundreds of students were milling around, shouting to each other in shock and panic as the local fire department struggled to contain the blaze.

"Pull over!" Ather shouted, Grace already turning the wheel. Kate lived in the dorms. The girls jumped out and ran into the fray.

Ather and Grace pushed their way through the growing crowd in the glare of the blaze, the heat burning through their long-sleeved shirts. Ather had thought to grab a jacket as they raced the car, and she tucked her arms into the sleeves hurriedly. "I'm going to look over there!" Grace shouted, and dashed to the left.

"Have you seen Kate Tunney?" Ather demanded a dark-haired girl, who shook her head.

"Have you seen my boyfriend, Cody?"

Ather shook her head. She ran to the next person, keeping Grace within calling distance.

Grace ran over to a tall blonde couple. The girl was crying brokenly in the boy's arms. "Kate Tunney, have you seen her?" she pleaded.

"Kate? Oh, no," the blonde blubbered. "Lucas, Kate…"

"Don't worry, baby," he replied, rubbing her back. "Everyone's okay --"

"What?" Grace begged.

"Her -- her room is on the floor the fire started." With that, she burst into tears and collapsed into the boys arms.

Grace looked around, the world spinning wildly. It was too much, the fire, the smoke, the heat, the panicked cries of people trying to find their friends, the press of bodies from all around… She felt nauseous. Her legs crumpled and she started to fall, but was caught by a strong pair of arms. A chest pressed against her back. "Hey, are you all right?" someone asked from behind her.

"Grace!" Ather suddenly appeared. "Are you okay? What happened?" The first question was directed at Grace, the second at the tall boy with long brown hair holding her up.

"Ather." Grace gripped Ather's hand. "The fire's on Kate's floor."

Ather paled. "Don't worry, she made it out, I know she did."

"Kate? You're looking for Kate Tunney?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Ather said. "Do you know where she is?"

The boy shook his head. "She's my girlfriend. I'm trying to find her."

"Pogue?" Grace asked. She reached for Ather and slung an arm around the slim redhead's shoulders as Ather wrapped one around Grace's waist, supporting her friend. "You're Pogue?" Grace repeated, finally able to see him.

"Yeah." He frowned, somewhat impatiently. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kate's cousin," Grace told him. "We dropped in for a surprise visit --"

"Look, we have to find Kate," Ather interrupted.

"All my friends are looking for her," Pogue assured the pair. "She'll be in the crowd somewhere, trying to find us. Don't worry." As if on cue, a tall dark-haired boy with bright blue eyes ran up to him. "Tyler, did you find her?" Pogue asked him urgently.

"No, I looked everywhere." Tyler ran a hand through his hair. "Are you sure she was in the dorms?"

"Yeah, I just dropped her off an hour ago. She had a headache and wanted to go to bed."

Tyler looked worried. "Pogue --"

"No, Tyler," Pogue said strongly. "Don't even think about it. I know she got out. She's probably running around with Sarah trying to find me or Caleb."

Fearing the worst, Grace started shaking. Before Ather and Summer had come along, she, Kate and Becca had been almost like one being, they had been so close. The possibility that Kate could be hurt was almost too much to take in. Ather noticed Grace's shivering and quickly shrugged off her jacket and put it around her shoulders. "Can you stand here for a second?" She waited for Grace's nod, then stepped in front of Pogue and Tyler.

"We have to go look for her," Ather said fiercely.

Pogue gave Ather a determined look. "You stay here with Grace, and me and Tyler will go find our friends and Kate and Sarah."

"Who's Sarah?"

"Kate's --"

Pogue's phone rang. He whipped it out and answered it. "Caleb?" He covered his other ear to hear easier over the noise of the burning building and sirens. "Did you find Kate or Sarah? Oh, Reid. Where's Caleb? Did you find --" He stopped, listening. What happened next scared Ather to her core. Pogue seemed to lose all colour and shrink in on himself. He looked like an old man. His hands shook. He swayed dangerously. "No, she -- Reid --" the phone slipped from his fingers and Tyler scooped it up. Ather rushed forward to catch Pogue but he was too heavy for her to hold up so she ended up levering him to the snow-covered ground awkwardly.

"Reid? What's happened, man?" Tyler demanded. After a pause, he swallowed, and ran a hand through his hair, eyes flicking to Pogue. "Are -- are you sure?"

"Oh, no," Grace said over the noise, and dropped to the ground, heart pounding as her mind gyrated. Ather looked over to see her best friend shaking and crying silently. She crawled through the snow, ignoring the immense cold seeping through her pants, and wrapped her arms around Grace. "Don't you believe it," Ather said, now fighting her own tears. "She's okay, all right? Don't you believe it."

Tyler hung up the phone. He stood awkwardly for a moment, then sat beside Pogue. "Pogue…"

"Tyler, what's happened?" Ather pleaded.

He blinked. "Who are you?" he asked, clearly trying to stop his own world from spinning.

She hurriedly explained, "I'm Ather, this is Grace. Grace is Kate's cousin. We flew in from Australia to surprise Kate for Christmas. Now please, tell us what's happened!"

Tyler swallowed. "Kate and Sarah were inside when the fire broke out," Tyler said heavily. "They… they didn't make it out."

* * *

**Reviews are love :)**


End file.
